2009 in pictures

January

We took advantage of every warm weekend to go hiking, picnic in a park, or do something outdoors. Our first outing of the year was to Mother Neff State Park. Also in January, I had a personal bridal shower, and we went to a Twogether in Texas seminar on conflict resolution, which was free, came with free lunch, and knocked $60 off the cost of our marriage license. Amusingly, we'd registered for one in Temple, but the instructors couldn't make it, so it was canceled, and we had to go to Marlin. The instructors there were both from Temple and the others who were registered for that seminar were from Killeen, but didn't show up. So, we all drove to Marlin, when we live within a couple miles of each other.

February

In February, the wedding prep was nearly finished. We had a pre-wedding party in Arlington, hosted by Angela and Amy. Here, we're practicing cutting the cake together, so that we'd be good at it at our wedding reception. We played one of those "how would your fiance answer this question" games, which we'd also played at Twogether in Texas. One question that I'd gotten wrong at Twogether in Texas, I changed my answer to what Rodgers answered that time. And he changed his to what I'd said. So, we still got it wrong.

March

The wedding! We loved our wedding. We love being married even more, but we often reflect back on what a great day our wedding day was. On one hand, I feel like we've always been married. On the other hand, it feels like just yesterday we were still LDRing.

April

In April, we celebrated our first monthiversary by making samosas for the first time. We have nearly perfected the art now. Rodgers made some at Christmas that were the-best-ever! We didn't know it yet, but this was the first picture of me pregnant.

May

In May, we found out that our family was growing already! Here is Nate's first portrait. I still remember the look on Rodgers' face when I told him I'd be taking a pregnancy test. He just started grinning and giggling. He didn't stop smiling at me all evening. It was annoying at the time, but now a great memory. We are thrilled to be parents, and I am thrilled that pregnancy is almost over!

June

We spent Father's Day at my parents' house. All the kids pitched in together to get Dad an electronic drumset, which, we found out, has very fun sound effects. It came with headphones, but he enjoyed it more when everyone could hear what he was playing. Rodgers also helped Dad dig a trench to improve their drainage system for the washing machine. It was a hot day.

July

In July, we started really preparing for the arrival of Nathanael. I found a lady on craigslist who had a Baby Bjorn she wanted to sell for $20. We ended up also buying a travel swing and a high chair from her, and she gave us tons of toys and extras.

August

In August, we took our babymoon. I was barely starting to show, though I already felt enormous. People who knew me could definitely tell, but strangers could not. I'm sure they thought I was just pudgy...This is us with a replica of the Santa Maria. It was built in Spain, to the specs of the original. It, with the Nina and Pinta, set sail from Spain on the 500th anniversary of the original voyage which accidentally landed in the New World.

September

The end of August, we moved into a bigger place, to make room for our baby. By September, we were unpacked and well settled-in. Looking at this picture, I realize that our living room is now really, really a mess.

October

After a few cold days in October, we had a warm, sunny Saturday. We went hiking at one of our favorite parks in Stillhouse Hollow. It was possibly our last hike together before Nate's born. We may make another outing to try and speed the process of him joining the world of air, though, if he decides to be late.

November

With 2 babies coming in our family within a few weeks of each other, we celebrated Christmas and Thanksgiving with my family in early November. It was a very fun time. And, we got all our Christmas shopping done way before the crowds. I was 31 weeks pregnant, and Claire was 34.

December

In December, Rodgers got his BA in Psychology! In April, we thought he'd be graduating in December, but then found out that he needed a b'jillion more upper credit hours that he thought he already had credit for. So he took lots of summer school. Then, in August Lillie, in the registrar's office, called him and told him he could actually graduate in December. What a blessing! His medallion is from Alpha Chi, which is an academic honor society for the top 10% of upperclassmen. The gold scarf is from Psi Chi, a psychology honor society. He was also in Pi Gamma Mu (social science honor society), but didn't wear their regalia, and he was invited to Gamma Beta Phi (academic honor society for the top 20%), but didn't join because he'd already joined Alpha Chi, so GBP was anti-climactic.